Learn The Basics Of TakingA Great Garden Picture

I love taking photos of my garden! But sometimes my "perfect garden picture" doesn't turn out so well ...

My cousin Christophe Landry (who also loves gardening) has
been impressing the rest of the family with his photography recently!

So
I asked him to stop by and give us a few tips to make our photos
better.

What makes a great garden picture?

For me, great garden photography needs a few things.

First, not
too much light.

The best times to capture great garden photos with
perfect natural light is in the early morning, while the sun is still
rising, and in the late afternoon or early evening, when the sun is
setting. Too much light or sun is destructive.

Second, a camera stand or tripod. This becomes especially useful and important for my next tip.

Third, some of the best shots a photographer gets are utilizing slow or low shutter speed.
But a tripod of some kind is absolutely vital to avoid noise, as the
human hand/body tends to shake. Slow shutter speeds capture either a
panoramic view, or as close up as technology can get.

For microscopic type photos, that is, of a bee pollinating a flower, a macro lens
is needed. They are expensive, but worth the investment, if extremely
close range photography is what you like best. Use the tripod, though,
and slow down your shutter speed.

Four, garden photography isn't photography if it is colorless and noisy.
Capturing the broad range of colors and textures in a garden is what
makes garden photography appealing for both hobbyists, consumers, and
ordinary passersby.

If the gardener is skilled, the garden
palette will already be set up in a way that makes it easy for a
photographer to go in and simply snap, without photoshopping or
filtering. That said, pick a garden that makes your job easiest.

Last, you want to capture dew, pollen, or whatever naturally exists on the plants or flowers. It adds a nice, natural touch to close-range shots.

What mistakes do beginners make when they take a garden picture?

When novice photographers (or just tourists with no real interest in
photography) visit a garden and are enamored by it, there is a tendency
to just take random shots of a single flower or vegetable, or of the
entire patch of plants and flowers without thinking about depth of
field.

The flower, fruit, veggie, or birdhouse may be pretty, but it is even
prettier if we make them the subject of the frame, and blur the
surroundings. This requires a little knowledge on aperture, shutter and
ISO.

In general, all smaller cameras used by the everyday
tourist have automatic functions that we rely on to do all the work, in
terms of aperture, ISO and shutter, for us. But they don't always
capture the subject or frame exactly as we would like. That's where
homework and practice become important.

What are your best tips for taking a garden picture?

Take shots when the sun is rising and when the sun is setting.

Use a tripod so that slower shutter speeds can be used to have crisper
photos. Longer shutter speeds will allow more light into the camera,
which compensates for the glaring sun in garden photography.

Try
to capture some insects and animals foraging in the garden, too. They
play a key role in flower growth through pollination and fertilizing the
plants. They tend to be characters, too, so it is likely that you'll
get a bird dancing, squirrel posing or nibbling.

New photographers often feel overwhelmed by how many functions their
camera has. I think I take an okay garden picture, but I don't even know most of them! Which
ones do you feel are most important to learn?

Agreed, DSLR cameras, especially those without automatic functions, are overwhelming for newcomers to the hobby.

What
I find most helpful is YouTube. There are hundreds of tutorials on the
various functions of DSLR cameras. Of all of them, I would say that
shutter, aperture and ISO are the most important. Those affect light
entering the camera, depth of field, and, crucially, lighting.

I don't understand the difference between light entering the camera and "lighting". Can you explain?

They are basically the same, with a subtle difference. The light
entering the camera determines the outcome of the picture (if no manual
setting changes occur in the camera to achieve certain finished
products).

Say that you're indoors, and have fluorescent lights
on the ceiling, which gives off this yellowish color to everything.
That's not naturally what the human eye would see; it's altered by the
type of light bulbs.

You can manually change a setting in the camera (white balance) to remedy this.

But sometimes when indoors, there may be too much bright white light in the room. That too affects the picture.

You can remedy this by also changing settings in the camera, to "darken" the shot.

And,
when we're outside, natural lighting has its consequences, too. Too
much light produces that glare we often see. Too little light (night
time) produces dark pictures. Flash at night can make the subject too
bright, and so on.

So these settings change the quality of the light entering the camera as well? Like a filter does?

Bingo. They are, in reality, filters.

I learned a lot today about taking a garden picture -- this makes me want to finally open up my manual and learn about what my camera does!

Thanks so much for your help!

My pleasure.

Christophe Landry is a native of New Iberia, Louisiana [US], where he learned to garden from his grandparents, who won city awards for their yard from the 50s to the 80s.

Christophe currently resides in Brighton, United Kingdom, where he is a doctoral candidate in American History.